As far as the insectoid races go. I doubt that we would be able to even "view" a hive queen. Most likely all negotiations would occur through an intermediary and not the queen.

She is much too important to risk. They would probably use a regular worker as they are imputed to be able to hive communicate anyways.

That's something to keep in mind. You might be able to talk to her directly on the diplomacy screen, but you can't have any events that require her to be physically present (like the "Leader of a Civ is assassinated" event from GalCiv 1).

Why cant she be assassinated? gas the hive or something. Or be extra sneaky.

Offer the insects some really tasty treats that the whole hive can share. They will be poisoned, of course, and the workers will take it right back to the Queen. Even better, make it a slow-acting poison that makes all who consume it unable to reproduce!

I'm sorry. That's horrible. No one would ever create such a diabolical bio-weapon to kill insects.

- Proud Canadian

I was thinking of the event where the leader of a civ is assassinated while touring a factory on one of your worlds, causing war to break out. If it's like your standard SciFi hivemind, that would wipe out the entire civ. The queen is not a personage that ever goes anywhere near citizens of other civs.

We could use couple of races based in female character similar to the amazons or Xena warrior princess Now seriously, a female warrior race could add more good taste and interest to the game. The option of using a male or female character as the leader of your race could be another plus bonus.

Or an equal opportunity alien race that just happens to have a female emissary?

Now seriously, a female warrior race could add more good taste and interest to the game.

Why good taste? Warrior women wear very tight leather or bikini's, everyone knows that! Ok, Xena wears that breast plate which forces up her....umm.....so thats why its called a breast plate.

Or an equal opportunity alien race that just happens to have a female emissary?

Would be funny to see a politically correct race which has two embassadors, one male one female. To avoid discrimination. They could declare war on societies they deem as sexist or in any form discriminatory.

But what about non-humanoid aliens with more than 2 genders?

Excellent point Kevin! Heck, some races might not even -have- genders. They could all reproduce asexually or some such. I suppose though, that this is slightly off topic from the original intent of this thread. Which was to comment that GC1 lacked females as potential leaders, even among the humans.

Or they could be hermaphoditic.

Isn't it interesting how all of these ideas have roots in what we see here on our own world? Perhaps we are being too narrow minded in what could be?

A race could just genetically engineer whatever type of 'unit' they want/need. As and when they need them.

No sexses as such would exist. Shudders.

If all embassadors were replaced with androids, the issue would just go away.....hmmm...

If all embassadors were replaced with androids, the issue would just go away.....hmmm...

Human Ambassador: "I am C3P0. I am ever so pleased to make your acquaintance!"
Antaran Leader: "I didn't know androids could be gay. Is it just me, or is this android totally homosexual?"
Antaran Aide: *SHRUGS*
Antaran Leader: "Not that there's anything WRONG with that... but what's up with the gold plating and rediculous accent?"
Antaran Aide: *SHRUGS*
Human Ambassador: "Goodness gracious me!"
Antaran Leader: "Uh, yeah....we changed our mind about that alliance thing. Our people will call your people. Thanks for stopping by."

Ha...Ha...No.

Usually it slaps the female-only on the Arvanitians and Adinians.

Were there supposed to be minor races called the Sanderons and Sanderians?

Maybe the minors could each have a permanent "profile"

Well, that GNN robot looks pretty feminine to me.

GalCiv1 had a female leader. A governor. She is either #2 or #3 on the list of 4 names.
I thought several events showed women.

Erm... other then human and Altarians, we definately will not be able to tell what sex an alien species is. Well, not the common gamer. I suppose in-game the particulars could become learned easily enough (ie, perhaps Drengin males are red, and Drengin females are purple, and really old (too old to reproduce) Drengin's fur fade to green. That's up to the SD art team. ).

Remember, in most species on Earth, we cannot tell the difference without some serious biological probing.

What sex is the Yor? Do they even have sex? Sex is for randomizing and mutating your descendant's genetics, to try to find an advantagous edge over their rivals in their generation. It's for widening the species chances at survival. Reproduction of the basic design, while trying out minor variations on it to find the optimal answer for its environment. When you are an artificial being, what is the equivalence design act?

As for hivers... the queen isn't anything but an egg producer. There would be a specialized member of the hive that's the thinkers and planners. But that won't be the queen. It is true that ambassadors won't talk to the queen, but that's because she's just a spawner. No brain there to talk to.

Now, hive minded species, in which each individual plugs into the whole of their community (ie, borgs), that would be different. Many or all might take turns at reproducing. But they would function like a distributed network, so the removal of any individual wouldn't be a serious loss to the OverMind. That's just a lost node, a lost tool of the network. Only if the physical limitations make a particular member type rare (ie, only 3 males left in a colony of 500) would an individual structure/node become more valuable then others.

Anyways, as for more human females pictured in the game, that's fine by me. I'd prefer they didn't do the sex-kitten look or obvious eye candy. Leave that to MoO and its Amazonians.

Actually Hyper Malls could work as a way to spread youre culture through the galaxy I honestly see no reason why they shouldnt be added

I agree, it'd be nice to see females in scenes alongside male counter-parts.

I'd also like to see a matriarchal society with a female leader (maybe in an expansion )

Anyone notice that the Torian Confederation Ambassador looks... well like a giant penis? In keeping with the gender equality theme of this thread... perhaps one of other ambassadors can look more like a vagina? That said, perhaps the human race is the only race that has male and female species? For all I know, the Drengin are unisex beings that mate by rubbing each others ear lobes as they are genetically evolved from the Ferengue? .... someone pass that space bong... I'll brainstorm some more on this important subject.

Females are harder to model thus more expensive.  Maybe in an expansion pack the Altarian ambassador can be made female.

I apologize if this comes off a bit harsh, but I'm a bit angry here.

We're not asking for much here. Just a little 2d picture at the race selection screen (used elsewhere during the game as well) that can alternately be a female instead of male, and for the various titles throughout the game to reflect the choice of male or female leaders... and you suggest that they'll be added in an expansion pack? I hope that was a joke (which it's a really bad one at that!), because if it isn't that's just sad. Nothing turns me off of a game faster than to find out that I cannot play a female (being one myself!). Please do not make me regret having pre-ordered GC2.

I think back to all of the predecessors to the GC series. Most of them didn't even have a name or face for the leader, thus avoiding the issue altogether, but those that did definitely included females. Even the original Civilization had Queen Elizabeth and Cleopatra complete with graphics as options, and that was 1991!! Here we are 14 years later, and you say you might include us in an expansion pack?! I just think how well (poorly!) Everquest or The Sims would have sold if they had decided that females were too expensive to model, and thus shunted them off to expansion pack territory. Sure, this isn't an MMOG or a "sim" game, but it's just as important to the female audience here, as it is there.

In fact, I do believe I hesitated in pre-ordering till I was assured by Carielf that unlike GC1, GC2 would include female leader options. I was -not- going to buy the game if I had to edit the files like I did in GC1. It also wouldn't be the first time I have opted not to buy a game because I couldn't play a female... and I'm not the only one. Sure, there aren't too many female players in the ranks of GC2, but there are a few. And I can assure you, there will be at least one less if we aren't included.

In all honesty, I'd rather see you get rid of the pictures altogether but include female titles and the like during the game, than to not have the option at all. At least then I wouldn't feel like an after thought!

I'm staggered that you see something so cosmetic as being so important!

You will be able to make your own pic for custom races, theres a screenie somewhere of Frogboy's custom race with a cartoon charicature for the leader image so there's always that option.

I don't remember being female or male being a cosmetic concept in real life Why is it cosmetic in game?